Swamp Foxes return from Afghanistan

About 90 members of the South Carolina Air National Guard are returning from a two-month deployment to Afghanistan.

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 17:47:54 GMT —

MCENTIRE JOINT NATIONAL GUARD BASE, S.C. (WACH/AP) -- About 90 members of the South Carolina Air National Guard are returning from a two-month deployment to Afghanistan.

The members of the 169th Fighter Wing based at McEntire Joint National Guard Base near Eastover are expected to return during the weekend.

The exact time and date of the deployment was not being released for security reasons. The unit deployed in April.

In all, more than 400 members of the wing have helped provide air support for ground forces in Afghanistan.

"Our overall mission is to use air power to support the ground forces,â?? said Colonel Mike Hudson as they prepared for deployment in April. â??The intent is to be overhead, and be within six or seven minutes of helping ground forces at anytime."

The mission a sign that the United States and South Carolinaâ??s soldiers are still heavily involved with bringing stability to Afghanistan.

"I think we're well trained to support the ground troops, over there,â?? said Major David Way in April. â??We've had a good training program and we look to do good work for them."

Spokesman Maj. Jim Roth says the deployment is the unit's largest since Operation Desert Storm in Iraq and is the fourth major deployment for its F-16 pilots since 2002.